# Liam O'Grady

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Liam O'Grady," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/liam-o-grady/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The Eastern District of Virginia judge who sentenced Daniel Hale, and who in John Kiriakou's account surprised the courtroom twice: with a sentence of 45 months rather than the far longer term expected, and with a recommendation that Hale serve it in a low-security prison where he could be treated for depression and addiction. The Bureau of Prisons ignored the recommendation and sent him to the communications management unit at Marion instead.*

- **Court:** The [Eastern District of Virginia](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/eastern-district-of-virginia)
- **Case:** The sentencing of [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale)
- **Sentence:** 45 months
- **Kiriakou's word for it:** He 'shocked everybody'
- **His recommendation:** A low-security prison with treatment for depression and addiction
- **What happened to it:** The [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons) ignored it

**Liam O'Grady** is a federal judge in [the Eastern District of Virginia](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/eastern-district-of-virginia) who sentenced [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale), and one of the few figures in that court [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) describes without hostility.

## The sentence

*"When Daniel Hale was sentenced in the notorious district court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Judge Liam O'Grady shocked everybody by giving him a sentence of 45 months in prison."*[1] In a district Kiriakou characterises by its conviction rate and its severity, the surprise ran the other way.

## The recommendation that was ignored

*"Judge O'Grady recommended that Daniel go to a low security prison where he could be treated for depression and addiction issues. The US [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons) ignored that recommendation, and instead sent him to the [communications management unit](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/communications-management-unit) of the supermax prison at Marion, Illinois."*[1]

Kiriakou's assessment of the destination is unambiguous: *"this is one of the two most secure and most dreaded prisons in the entire US prison system,"* where Hale was *"incarcerated with some of the most dangerous people in the world, including terrorists and Mafia leaders."*[2]

The episode is his standing example of how little a sentencing judge controls once the sentence is passed.

## The Hale sentencing

Kiriakou singles out O'Grady as the reason a plea entered without any deal did not end in disaster. Hale pleaded guilty to one count of espionage in the [Eastern District of Virginia](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/eastern-district-of-virginia), a district Kiriakou calls *"notoriously anti-whistleblower"*, gambling on the judge agreeing that the other counts were duplicative.[3][4]

On 29 July 2021 O'Grady sentenced him to 45 months where the government had urged fourteen years, allowed him to make a statement in open court, and then dismissed all the other charges with prejudice — reducing an exposure Kiriakou puts at 75 years to 45 months.[5][6] The judge also recognised Hale's PTSD and ordered him held at the prison hospital complex at Butner; that order was not followed.[6][7]

## See also

- [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale)
- [Eastern District of Virginia](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/eastern-district-of-virginia)
- [Communications management unit](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/communications-management-unit)
- [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons)

## Sources

1. Enema of the State (2023-03-05), at 16:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgGxUpHktUU&t=984s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-03-05-enema-of-the-state-enema-of-the-state/
2. Enema of the State (2023-03-05), at 16:55. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgGxUpHktUU&t=1015s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-03-05-enema-of-the-state-enema-of-the-state/
3. Daniel Hale and America's unending persecution of whistleblowers (2021-10-29), at 09:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss365a647a&t=592s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-29-scheer-intelligence-daniel-hale-and-america-s-unending-persecutio/
4. Daniel Hale and America's unending persecution of whistleblowers (2021-10-29), at 10:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss365a647a&t=626s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-29-scheer-intelligence-daniel-hale-and-america-s-unending-persecutio/
5. Daniel Hale and America's unending persecution of whistleblowers (2021-10-29), at 10:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss365a647a&t=658s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-29-scheer-intelligence-daniel-hale-and-america-s-unending-persecutio/
6. Daniel Hale and America's unending persecution of whistleblowers (2021-10-29), at 11:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss365a647a&t=690s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-29-scheer-intelligence-daniel-hale-and-america-s-unending-persecutio/
7. Daniel Hale and America's unending persecution of whistleblowers (2021-10-29), at 12:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss365a647a&t=723s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-29-scheer-intelligence-daniel-hale-and-america-s-unending-persecutio/

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